They are young but they don’t seem to be intimidated.
The Idaho swim and dive athletes beat Western Athletic Conference opponent Northern Colorado Saturday 217-83 at the UI Swim Center. The Vandals also beat Simon Fraser 154-51 and Whitman College 188-17 Friday at the UI Swim Center.
Idaho will face California State-Bakersfield Oct. 31 in Bakersfield, California, in a WAC matchup.
The Vandals racked up points with a lot of underclassmen Friday and Saturday as 21 out of the 30 Idaho swimmers and divers are either freshmen or sophomores.
Idaho Freshman Indiya Williams won the three-meter dive Saturday with a score of 263.85.
“I think Indiya winning three meter was a great thing you know,” Idaho coach Mark Sowa said. “The girl that she beat was WAC Diver of the Year last year (Savanna Meadows, who took fourth in the three-meter dive Saturday) and that’s a freshman right there so to me that’s probably the biggest standout performance but it would be tough to single one person out.”
The Vandals won 14 out of the 16 events against Northern Colorado but Sowa said the third and fourth-place finishers are important too.
“They (Northern Colorado) won the 100 backstroke but we went two, three, four so that’s only a one-point swing right there,” Sowa said. “So that to me, that’s what we need to be about for us to be where we want to be at the end of the year.”
Idaho took like a fish back in the water against Simon Fraser and Whitman.
“We’re happy to be home,” Sowa said. “We love racing at home. We love being in front of other Vandals and our friends and our family.”
Idaho had a strong meet as the Vandals took first in every event with the exception of the 200- yard butterfly, in which Idaho freshman Vivian Crow took second with a time of 2 minutes, 8.58 seconds.
Freshman Sarah Hall said the team did better during this meet because the racing situations were different.
“Last meet was a little bit faster paced definitely,” Hall said.
Freshman Erica King beat Lauren Swistak of Simon Fraser by a mere one-hundredth of a second. King said the team is supportive and there are many people behind the scenes helping the Vandals.
Sowa said he feels the upperclassmen captains did a tremendous job preparing the team for the meet and that great things can be expected of them.
Although this meet went great, there is still room left for improvement, Sowa said.
“Even the great swims, there were places within each swim and each performance that could have been better,” Sowa said.
Sowa said the team approaches the meets with the mindset that every day is different and it is important for the team to focus on what is right in front of them first.
“Yeah this was nice, but this doesn’t necessarily mean it will carry over into tomorrow’s performance (Saturday against Northern Colorado),” Sowa said. “So they have to recreate that enthusiasm. They have to recreate that focus.”
Garrett Cabeza and Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected]